Sacramental
by Personna07
Summary: Eileen Galvin is forced back into Otherworld when Henry Townsend goes missing. It's her turn to be the hero. The question is, does she want to be?
1. Figments

_The blood stained hand rose high into the air above her head, clenched into a white knuckled fist. He wanted nothing more than to kill her bare handed, no weapon, and no method. Just beat her until her heart stopped pounding. Looking up at him through blurry green eyes, she could make out his form. Dark trench coat, long blonde hair, parts of him matted with blood. Maybe it was hers, or maybe it wasn't. It didn't really matter anymore. He was going to kill her for the sake of his cause; her screams meant nothing to him. The fist came down in what was almost slow motion, she couldn't move. She was frozen and bound to a fate that was designed for her to die. She shut her eyes and cried out._

Eileen Galvin sat up in her bed with a start, reeling from the memories her subconscious refuse to let her forget. She swallowed the remnants of the dream and clutched the thin blanket to her chest as she breathed in and out harshly. Her heart hammered in the chambers of her chest as if trying to force its way out. Sweat had formed over her skin causing the uncovered areas of her to prickle with goose bumps. Eileen shut her eyes in a futile attempt to calm herself down. But her hands just wouldn't stop shaking.

_It's okay. I'm okay. He's gone, he can't come back anymore. Not for Henry and not for me_.

One year, three months, two weeks and six days since the events in Otherworld. Eileen had all but counted the seconds since she and Henry came out of Walter Sullivan's twisted realm. It had been Walter who had chosen her and Henry to be sucked into his sadistic games, all because somewhere in their lives they'd encountered him and caught his eye. If anything Henry was the most unfortunate to be chosen, all he'd done was move into room 302. Eileen on the other hand had merely offered him a gift of a child's heart. For Walter it had been a sign, a gift that gave him more than a shabby doll but the rights to her soul.

Eileen couldn't think of Walter without wanting to scream her throat raw. Her entire life had been normal, so unbelievably normal that looking back she almost pitied how sheltered society had made her. And envious to all the people who would never know the horrors she did, they'd die with the notion there was no such thing as the boogeyman.

She moved her trembling hands from her chest and released the blanket. Her digits wrapped around her shoulders as Eileen hugged herself. A year was a long time, but not long enough to forget. The nightmares of Walter in her apartment beating her nearly to death continued to torment her. During her journey at Henry's side Walter had found a way to warp her mind somewhat so that she felt compelled to help his younger self. As insane as it was, even now Eileen yearned for the little wide eyed child who seemed innocent to his older counterpart's plans. Whether he had been real or not, little Walter had saved her life. He was pure.

Eileen gazed around her bedroom that was lit by the moon through the open window blinds. It looked safe, like it always did. Sometimes she had to remind herself Walter wasn't in the closet ready to cut her up with an axe. Or any of his other hellish creations.

The brunette threw the blanket off her body and slid out of bed. The cold wooden floor stung the pads of her feet. She hissed softly. It reminded her that this was all real. She was in control of her life.

Eileen opened her bedroom door and stepped out into the hall quietly, tiptoeing as she did so. Her room was at the very end of the hall, and towards the middle across from her was Henry Townsend's room. She stopped there for a moment, placing her nimble fingers on the closed door. Her heart swelled some, no longer rampaging within her.

Eileen loved Henry, but not in a sexual way. What had happen to them ended up forming a unique and frightening bond that no one else could ever forge. They went to hell together and together they survived. Without him she'd be dead, there was no amount of gratitude that could sum up her feelings for Henry. After the events in Ashfield the two wasted no time leaving town. Neither had even gone inside the apartment building to grab their things, nothing was necessary enough to go back in for. It seemed crazy to move into another apartment even if it was across the country. But they were as far from Ashfield as they could ever be. It wasn't even a question to stay together, the duo hopped into the cheapest rental car and fled. Parting ways was never mentioned. Eileen and Harry had picked the most livable two bedroom apartment affordable and moved in. It wasn't fancy what so ever. Supported by her waitressing job and his manual labor in a locally owned factory, it was the best their salary could do.

Her fingers slid off the door. Henry would be sound asleep. He was lucky he could sleep, because she surely couldn't. Eileen smiled to herself. He was an average man trying to be her hero; it was no wonder everyone in the building thought they were a couple. Henry put his fears and worries aside to take care of her, make sure she was alright. She wished she was stable enough to help him but she just wasn't ready to be a shoulder to lean on.

It was a ritual, just like Walter's but a lot less gruesome. More times than none Eileen had nightmares, and after she awoke from them she fled to the bathroom at the mouth of the hallway. As she neared Eileen caught a glimpse of the living room clock. 2:43pm.

_Great, I'm never going to wake up in time for work tomorrow._

Slipping inside the bathroom she turned on the light and shut the door, leaving it slightly cracked open. Eileen took a deep breath and looked herself in the mirror. She was utterly gorgeous; no time in Walter's tainted world could rob her of that. But the beauty was tarnished. Her once lively green eyes were worn and full of experience. She had the eyes of someone who'd seen too much for her years. Eileen had lost weight from not eating as much as she should, able to keep her figure despite slimming down a few sizes. It was seeing how the diner she worked in made the customer's meals that made food so grotesque, and not so much the memory of rotted K-9's.

The hard part came next. She turned her back to face the mirror, and looked backwards so she could see her reflection. Eileen wore a simple purple tank top with snug shorts to match. She pulled her top nearly off and stared blankly at the brand on her back.

**20/21**

The crude scars were now faded marks on her flesh. Yet they still perfectly outlined the scrawled numbers cut into her, reminding her of that fateful day.

_The mother reborn, twenty slash twenty one. No matter how many years go by this will always be with me._

Tears simmered in her eyes but didn't fall. She wouldn't allow another tear to be wasted on the past. She wasn't dead and that meant she ought to live her life to the fullest. At least that's what Henry told her.

The green eyed woman slid her top back over her body and turned forward once more. She ran a hand through her tangled but growing brown hair. It'd been a long time since she had cut it. The brown tresses grew a little past her shoulders in contrast to when it was cropped short. However she liked it with a bit of length to it. Her Ashfield friends had liked the short hair. She would never see them again, so it didn't much matter now.

Eileen was in a daze about her former life when the lights began to flicker. She gasped inwardly and took hold of the sink as soon as the ground shook.

_An earthquake? Here?_

An earsplitting crash pierced her ears, causing Eileen to fall to the ground and cover her head with her hands. Never before had she been in an earthquake and she had no clue how to protect herself from it. Eileen squeezed her eyes shut and cried out as her entire world shook around her. Her only thoughts were for Henry who may be covered in a heap of debris. Top floor or not they weren't safe from their own home caving in on them.

The quakes only lasted a moment longer. The stop was so sudden the Eileen was still moving when the earth went still. She opened her eyes wide and breathed out, heart pounding once again. It was a miracle she made it to her feet. Taking hold of the sink edge as she hauled herself up. The lights ceased flickering, a good sign that the apartment building as a whole wasn't compromised. It took a second for Eileen to feel how the air had changed, thickened. She couldn't breathe, she was panicking now.

Then Eileen saw it. At first she thought it was a figment of her imagination, a trick of her unfocused eyes. But the more she stared at the enormous hole behind her, the more the truth sank in. Eileen went pale. The hole in the bathroom wall was big enough for a human to fit inside, surrounded with archaic symbols on the top, bottom and sides.

_Not real, not real. No…no…not real._

She turned around and the hole was there, staring Eileen right in the face with its black endless abyss of an eye. A sob escaped her throat.

"No…please let me be dreaming!"

Not only fear but anger filled her. Everything came rushing back with the strength of a freight train, and she didn't want it. Apart of her felt like everything that took place a year ago was all a waste. Which dawned a second thought: If the tunnels were back, did that mean Walter was too?

"Dear God…"

Eileen threw open the bathroom door and rushed into the hall. She jolted over to Henry's room and took hold of the door knob, pushing it open.

Fog, endless bottomless fog. The small room was gone. The door to Henry's room gave way to fog that had no end. All hopes fell, and terror grew limitless. Henry was gone.

She took a step backward, her back encountering the wall.

_Not gone…back there. He's back in the Otherworld._

It was clear now, whoever had brought this back upon them, God help her if it was really Walter Sullivan, had taken Henry to coax her in after him. And it worked. Henry didn't leave her behind and she be damned if she left him.

Pushing her fear aside Eileen swallowed the lump in her throat and took off towards her bedroom. Moving towards the bed, she went down flat on her belly and reached under her bed, half expecting something to grab her. She pulled out a steel baseball bat that Henry had given her as a gift after they'd rented the apartment. It was to make her feel safe, who knew she'd really have to use it?

Eileen changed her clothes, putting on a pair of jean shorts and sneakers. Over her purple tank top she zipped up a thin black hoodie. Preparing to go into the Otherworld didn't take as long as it would seem.

Weapon, check. That was all.

She jogged back down the hall, passing the open door of what was once Henry's room without a single glance. Eileen had hell in her wake and in her future; it wasn't enough to stop her. The idea of running for the front door and fleeing had appealed to her. However she wasn't that foolish. That door would lead to more fog, and if it didn't it'd only be another year or so until the sacramental psycho found her again. And there was Henry; if safety and freedom resided outside the door he was enough to stop her from going to it.

Standing before the hole in the bathroom wall, Eileen gripped the steel bat in her left hand. What await her she'd have to face alone.

"I'm coming for you." She whispered.

Crawling into the hole, Eileen took her descent back into the nightmare.


	2. Desolate

**Author's Note:** Chapter two is here, and I already have three done as well. To be honest I'm pretty excited to be writing with Eileen Galvin as the main protagonist. Throughout Silent Hill four she was afraid and stuck to Henry's side like a magnet (If you didn't run too fast and leave her behind). But unlike previous secondary characters she was a load of help with her own weapons. I can't tell you how frustrating keeping Maria in Silent Hill two from harm was. So long story short Eileen isn't totally helpless and has potential to be a good heroine. But I'm defiantly not forgetting who she is and how she acts. My only regrets at this point are her relations with Henry. I may have been confusing, one moment she's all soft hearted but the next I'm forcing it down your throats they aren't physical. I'm just not a Henry/Eileen fan. Maybe a little Walter/Eileen…but no relationships! A reliable source informed me that if Eileen and Henry had been roommates this long one of them would have tried something on the other. But my only argument is I don't think anyone really wants any _special favors_ from the other after all the things Walter made them endure. Just saying. So enjoy, chapter three will be up promptly.

* * *

This was all new to her. Being the one to squirm through the tunnels in search of Henry instead of vice versa.

Eileen crawled on her hands and knees through the never ending hole that stretched from the bathroom of the apartment to God know where. She wished she'd worn longer pants because her knees were scraping against the rough interior of the passage. Cold air flushed in as the light came into view. A light at the end of the tunnel. It was sickly ironic.

Eileen allowed herself to believe just for a second that she was dead, killed in the supposed earthquake and now made her way to Heaven. But that was too cruel to think, giving herself that sort of faith was useless. If she was going anywhere at that moment, it was hell.

The clank of the metal bat in her hand hitting the tunnel floor made her uneasy. It was loud and could draw the attention of something.

As Eileen got to the end of the tunnel, she stuck her legs out first and swung them around until she felt ground. Her body vibrated with fear as soon as she stepped fully out to see where she had ended up. She froze. In the logical part of her mind Eileen realized that Walter couldn't be dead, because God didn't want him and the devil wouldn't be able to control him. Her green eyes gazed at the room where that final fight had gone down. The macabre machine in the vat of blood, the bodies draped around the room. This was where she almost died; Eileen remembered walking right at death without fear. Not that she was brave; she was just possessed by Walter.

_I can't get cold feet, not now dammit. _

The room was different then last time she'd been inside, barren and dead. The murderous rotation of the machine in the center of the room was still. The blood was dry and caked the dip in the floor it once filled leaving a putrid scent behind. Each body lined up around the room was now withered skin on bone. Even the giant creature was gone, leaving its chains hanging from the ceiling. Walter's body wasn't there either.

_If he were alive, he'd want to finish…._

Eileen stopped thinking before she got too far.

At first she was fearful to move in case the one simple step forward triggered the room to come alive. It however did not.

Eileen headed towards the stairs and looked up them. She ran her hand over her arm that had once been broken. Her entire frame shook. Being here was too much for her.

"I…I can't. Henry I can't." she sobbed. Her hand slapped against her mouth to muffle the next heart wrenching sound to leave her lips. Eileen shut her eyes and sank to the bottom step. Who was she kidding? Henry had made it out alive by an inch. The Otherworld was made up of someone else's desires and fears. Eileen was facing someone who was a God here.

Dropping the bat to her side, Eileen put her face in her hands and cried. She felt so weak and useless. Fear held her back and because she let it Eileen hated herself.

"_Oh God I'm sorry Henry." Eileen wept._

_Henry grimaced and sat beside her on the couch, putting an arm around her heaving shoulders. "Eileen…never be sorry."_

_She looked over at him and wiped the tears from her redden cheeks. "I feel so ashamed. Don't you get it? What happen to me, to us. It scarred me Henry. I don't think I will ever be okay."_

_His hand resting on her shoulder tightened its grip. "What happen to you is beyond shame, crying isn't a weakness. If you were still in shock or…or in denial, that's weak. Not you Eileen, you're strong. Walter couldn't strip you of your humanity. I don't expect anyone to recover fully from something like that. But it's over, your safe. Never forget that."_

He was right and she knew it. Fear kept her alive; it's what separated her from the bold who walked right to their death. Strength only went so far. It was the need to survive and the fear to know her boundaries that would keep her going.

Sniffling, Eileen drew her sullen face from her hands. She ran her palms over her jeans to dry them, then rubbed away the last of the hot tears from her face. As Eileen rose she thought about what she was meant to do. Starting her journey at the end of her last one left her with two options. Go backwards and end up at the beginning, where ever that was. Or find something significant in this room. She and Henry always ended up entering the places Walter wanted them to go. Eileen landing here in this deserted Otherworld made absolutely no sense at all.

Eileen grabbed the bat and stood, releasing a hefty sigh. She could do this, she knew she could. This was more than a nightmare reborn; it was a chance to prove herself. Eileen Galvin was not a broken victim, she was a survivor.

She went to searching the vast room. The rancid smell made her skin crawl, and it was strong enough to make her head hurt. Eileen didn't know if it was the dead bodies, old blood or the monster she supposed was laying dead somewhere beneath the room. Either way she was glad her stomach was void of food, or else she was sure she would vomit.

_The twenty one sacraments was left incomplete…that must mean he took Henry to finish them. By why not me? Walter can't do the ritual backwards can he? I have to be twenty, I'm before Henry. It makes no sense why Walter didn't just kidnap me instead._

Perplexed, Eileen muddled through her own theories as she continued surveying the room. Just like she thought, it was a big empty memory. In a way it reminded her of her childhood clubhouse. It had been her secret place until she grew out of it. When she came back years later it was worn out but untouched. Time took its toll on the little structure just as it had here. The violent lifetime this place had was over, now it was harmless. Eileen wondered if all the areas she and Henry had been to a year prior were like this. Maybe the ghosts of Walter's victims still gurgled under the Obedience Swords, but that would be all.

Frustration filled her. Eileen forced herself to face this hellish rewind, and yet nothing came forth to oppose her. Was she trapped in this hollow world for eternity?

The pain struck her then. Her left temple began to throb, a pounding in her skull drummed loud enough for her to hear. She had felt this before; they were an effect of her rejection to Walter's possession. The bat fell from her hands and she gripped her head and screamed. It hurt so terribly that her vision wavered until everything in the room meshed together. Eileen stumbled backwards, tripping and falling into the open dip in the floor. She rolled over the caked blood and hit the side of the deadly machine.

Eileen had no concept of time. She could have been there for a few moments, or hours. When her daze cleared she opened her eyes slowly. The feeling of crusted blood flaking and rubbing against her skin made her stomach twist. Her side hurt from where she'd slammed into the rotating bend of metal, luckily missing the spikes that decorated it. Sheer desire to escape the grotesque trap willed her up to a sitting position. Blinking her stunning green eyes, Eileen rubbed her head where the pain was.

"Ah!" she whimpered. Pulling her hand back, she found blood on her index and middle finger. Checking the spot again she realized she'd cut her head somewhere during the fall. She got up to her feet and brushed the crimson flakes from her jacket and pants with disgust.

"Eileen!"

The brunette gasped loudly and looked up at the source who'd called to her. Standing at the edge of the dip was Walter. The younger version of the man who tried to murder her stood there above her, looking down with a mixture of joy and worry. In his right arm he held a Robbie the Rabbit doll, just like the one she had. Except this one had blood covering its mouth.

She was speechless. All Eileen could muster up was a low mumble of his name. Little Walter must of heard it because he smiled. He was so tiny, so innocent. Did he realize he would grow up to be a monster? Or was he blissfully unaware?

The boy reached out his free hand as a gesture to come to him. "What are you doing in there? Come on! We got to find my mommy!"


	3. Cozen

**Author's Note:** I think I went over this chapter five times, and somehow I'm still iffy on it. Not so much the story but my descriptions. Anyways here is three, and I'm working on four soon. The beginning italicized passage is from the Silent Hill Wiki where they explained the transaction between Walter and Little Eileen. On Eileen's article there is a very sweet looking picture of her handing a homeless Walter the shabby doll. Which makes me wonder why he tries to kill her later and why that damn doll caused me a double haunting when I took it…

For those of you who may not know, I'm also writing another story currently about Laura from Silent Hill two. It's fairly good, so check it out.

* * *

_There was a man lying with his shabby sleeping bag in the passage of South Ashfield Station when along came a child about 5 years old. She was walking and holding her mother's hand. The child wore very cute clothes. She had such beautiful eyes._

_"...Eileen, don't look at him..." whispered her mother. _

_"Why not, mommy?" said Eileen. She shook off her mother's hand, and came closer to the man lying down. _

_"Why are you sleeping here? Aren't you cold?" said Eileen. He was puzzled by her talking to him. He had never seen her before. _

_"Eileen! Don't talk to him!" said her mother. _

_"Mommy, he's cold here. Can't you see that?" And she took a doll out of her bag and put it beside him. _

_"You can sleep with her." said Eileen. _

_"Eileen, let's go home. It's Daddy's birthday today. You know that. Daddy is waiting for you." said her mother. _

_"Okay, Mommy...bye-bye!" said Eileen and they were gone. _

_The man kept looking at the child's and mother's back, holding the doll she gave him. They looked very happy...that made him cry...he could not stop tears from running. _

_"Mommy, do you think he'll like this?" said Eileen. _

_"Of course he will. He will love it because you chose it." said her mother. _

Eileen would regret that day for the rest of her life. Even now as the young bright eyed boy watched her from above with so much innocence. In reality she would go to him as a child just as ignorant and change both of their lives.

"Walter…" she said softly from within the pit.

Little Walter's smile fell. He clutched Robbie close like a security blanket. "I missed you."

Over the course of time in Otherworld Eileen was without Henry, she had spent with Walter's youthful counterpart. Eileen had refused to speak of it to Henry. Not even he could understand it, the way she had loved the boy. Like a mother.

Henry would have listened, nodded his head and told her that her actions weren't in her hands. However that wasn't all true. Eileen had wanted to appease the child and protect him to no end. She didn't see the malice in his eyes in that time. It may have been the apart of the last days he was uncorrupt.

Eileen's chest tighten with grief. With him she had not been possessed. She was sure of it. "I know."

She climbed out of the pit without much trouble. It was a lot less arduous then she thought it would be. Standing over the blonde child made Eileen feel calm, he was afraid just like her. Maybe she could protect him still.

Little Walter looked up at her with his wide eyes, keeping his face downcast. Where could she start? Asking him questions seemed cruel, but she had to know what was happening. And where Henry was.

Kneeling down on one knee Eileen went to his level. She put on a kind smile and reached out her hand to him. Without hesitation he placed his pudgy hand in hers.

"Walter." Saying his name was like swallowing a rock. "Why are we here?"

He didn't speak at first. From the crook of his arm Robbie the Rabbit stared eerily at her. "The bad man took your friend, I saw him."

"Henry? You saw Henry?"

The boy nodded. "I can show you."

Eileen bit her lower lip, mulling over her options. "Okay…okay let's go."

Together they ascended the stairs, hand in hand. Eileen pulled open the door, not surprised to see the spiral trail she and Henry had followed when entering each world. Little Walter took the first step in, she followed suit.

They passed the doors one by one, ignoring the realms of the older Walter's memories. Eileen wondered if Walter had really seen the world like that during his life.

"Where are we going?" she asked the moment the trail's end became clear. The door that led to the hospital where this had all technically started for her lay around one final turn. It was debatable whether she had been in Otherworld when Walter attacked her. For Eileen her house had been untouched, but Henry had entered from the other realm. To her, the first seconds of her nightmare had been waking up in Otherworld hospital, unable to escape.

"We have to go to the highest part of him. If we do, then we will know what he wants." The child replied.

_Go to the deepest part of him, isn't that what Henry had said? _

Now she had to do the total opposite. Walter's soul was too damaged to salvage, therefore they succeeded in nothing but preserving their own lives.

_But if I'm correct, the highest part of anyone is their mind._

She'd have to learn his plans to defeat him. But wasn't it to finish the sacraments?

Little Walter reached up and open the final door, Eileen took it and they moved inside.

The giant creatures still lay dismembered on the stairs leading to the halls of the hospital. They were wrinkled and decayed, smelling tenfold worse than they had the first time around. It was silently agreed that they move out of this area quickly.

The two made it through the iron elevator gate and into the main hall. It was all coming back to her. The boy let go of Eileen and walked to the middle of the room near the two single doors at the right, bending down and picking something up. He turned to face her as he looked at the item. It appeared to be a picture. For some reason she was more concerned with his instant disconnection from her rather then what he was staring at.

"I have to go away now." He said.

"What? Why?"

The boy looked as though he'd cry. "Mommy is gone."

Little Walter dropped the photograph and ran towards double doors in the small hallway to the left of the room.

"Walter!" She called after him. Eileen took off after him, seeing him go into that next room. The door clicked shut just as she got to it, and when she tried opening it the doors wouldn't budge.

"Damn!" Eileen cursed, hitting the door with her fist. She pushed away from them and remembered her steel bat. She had left in behind after her tumble and reunion with young Walter. Now was she not only alone, but she was alone in Otherworld without a weapon. It didn't seem to matter though, everything was dead.

Eileen walked towards the picture and knelt down to pick it up. The polaroid was face down on the rusty floor. She plucked from the ground and turned it over. It was a picture of her during her hospital stay. The black bruises and caked blood marred her face, evidence of Walter's murder attempt. The many x-rays and shots of her damages had lined up the doctor's bulletin board once. But this one wasn't taken by a doctor, it couldn't have been. Professionals in the medical field took scans and not pictures of patients lying asleep in their beds. On the white strip of the polaroid was the numbers twenty slash twenty one crossed out.

_Crossed out?_

"Show yourself Walter! You psychotic freak stop hiding and tell me where Henry is!" Eileen hollered, tossing the picture down. She rose to her feet with her fists clutched tightly at her sides. "Why don't you just stay dead?" she hissed quieter.

Behind her a door creaked open. The brunette turned quickly to see if her demands had been met. It was the door to the stairway. No one came out however. But a sense of resolution beckoned her forward.

_If he wants to he can possess me all over again, he can make it easy and just kill me. Why does he want to play these fucking games?_

Despite her harsh thoughts Eileen looked frightened. And she was.

With extreme caution she came up on the open door and peered inside. Nothing stirred in the shadows and nothing creeped through the light. So she went up, to the highest level of the building. She ended up in the long upper hall, the very same hall Henry ventured in to find her. The long hallway stretched out before her and it too was different. At the very end where the open space once was, a new door stood. Intuition told her the answers to her questions lied inside that room. It just depended whether or not she wanted those answers.

Being weaponless forced her to stay on guard. While she walked up the hall she could hear her heart thud and her raspy breaths echo. Eileen made it to the doors but didn't go inside. She lowered her head down and shut her emerald eyes tightly. Placing her steady hand over the door, Eileen concentrated. In her minds eyes she thought of Henry. She listened for him, hoping to hear him call out for help.

Instead she heard the faint rhythm of a breathing pattern and looked up in surprise.

"Henry."

Eileen pushed the doors open and rushed inside. She entered what turned out to be an observation room, equipped with a table that stretched around the room in front of a plexiglas divider. This room was set a good twenty feet above the other one depicted down below, so whoever was inside could look down at the patient on display.

Eileen looked down at Henry's slumbering body on a padded slab. She cried out with so much relief and happiness that she nearly fell to her knees. The brunette scrambled onto the table and sat on her knees with her hands over the thick glass. From the lower point of view she would appear to resemble a child looking out a window with her hands firmly on the glass and her face so close that her breath showed up. Eileen pounded on the plexiglas.

"Henry! Wake up! Can you hear me?" she called, but to no avail. Even if he was awake he couldn't hear her through the thick separation. Eileen didn't care though, she had found him and that was all she cared about. Now they could escape, or attempt to stop Walter once more. Both sounded possible if he was there beside her.

The door at the far end of the patient room opened. Walter Sullivan, the insane masochistic killer, stepped inside. Her face went pale at the sight of him. Eileen's hands slid down slowly to her sides. She had believed he was alive, but seeing it was different then knowing.

Walter didn't seem to see her. He went to work rummaging through a nearby cabinet with serious concentration, searching for something specific. Unwanted medical tools were discarded and clattered to the floor. He looked no different than he had when she'd first met him. Not in the apartment, but as a child. Her heart pounded in her chest. It hit her that Henry and Walter were in a room together, a room she didn't know how to get into. The blonde man stepped out from the cabinet holding a scalpel. Eileen screamed.

She beat her fists against the glass relentlessly, calling out to Henry to wake up. Panic took her over and Eileen lost control. She was about to watch Henry be sliced open by Walter, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Or maybe there was. She didn't have a lot of time to detour the hospital grounds but there had to be a way into that room. As the idea struck her to find the entrance to the patient room, Walter looked up at her. He was smiling that subtle yet insane smile she knew all too well. It was in no way threatening, however the happiness behind it was. They were pawns, all twenty one of them. But Eileen knew he was grateful to each of them for existing and serving his cause. Walter's smile was something she learned to fear. In her nightmares he always grinned down at her.

Hopping off the table, Eileen bolted out the door and back towards the long hall. Standing in her way at the center of the hall were two decomposing dogs that weren't foreign to her. Their extended tongues lashed around the air in front of them, as though tasting the hall for flesh. She was both weaponless and pressed for time. The obstacle before her gave Eileen little options if she wanted to get past the dogs and survive. An idea formed in her mind. It was underdeveloped and had a great chance at failing, but it was all she had. Unzipping her hoodie, Eileen slipped it off her shoulders and walked towards the growling monstrosities with it stretched out like a bull fighter. The first dog leaped forward, not wanting to waste time. With what bravery she had left Eileen attempted to catch the dog in her coat and wrap it around it so she could buy a few seconds to run. Her arms hooked like a viper around the beast, successfully entrapping it. What Eileen hadn't banked on was the strength of the creature. She was forced to hold on tightly as the dog wrenched around. The sounds it made reminded her more of a large feline and not a skinless mutt. Unable to hold on any longer Eileen shoved the dog at the other one who'd been watching and hissing. The two beasts collided and Eileen took her window of opportunity to escape the hall.

She nearly tumbled down the stairs, catching herself on the rail but hitting her butt hard on one of the steps. Her adrenaline warded off any pain she may of felt. The main section of the first floor was covered with the tall feminine patients who made low belching sounds when attacked. At this point Eileen was all out of tricks. It was her versus seven of those things, and her chances were looking slim. Two of them noticed her from across the room and made their trudge forward.

"Eileen!"

Her attention snapped to Little Walter who stood at the double doors he had fled into earlier. He was holding one of them open for her. The child waved his little hand furiously and beckoned her forward. Robbie the Rabbit was gone from his arms, she was silently relieved. The two creatures were in reaching distance of her now, and they reared back to attack. Eileen dove between them, knocking into another one who hadn't seen her until they collided. The creature had no time to catch Eileen because she was up and at the door with the boy in an instant. All seven of them turned to face her and Little Walter. And together they came at them. The child grabbed her by the wrist and tugged her inside. The soft click of the door shutting confirmed her safety.

"They can't come in here." He said.

"I guess I figured that." She replied, looking back down at him. "I need to find Henry…the bad man…he's here."

Little Walter nodded solemnly and pointed. The L shaped hallway was illuminated by deep red emergency lights. It went straight for two rooms and the bent to her left. Red walls made her think of danger. But was it hers or Henry's?

"The bad man went into the room at the end of the hall. Be careful Eileen…please don't get hurt." The boy begged. Her heart wrenched for Little Walter, unlike the other version of him, this one wanted her to live.

"I will be okay. Go hide, and don't come out no matter what you hear." Once she said it Eileen felt foolish. This boy wasn't real, not in the true world. Here he was flesh and blood here, but as far as she could tell it was partly his world too. There was cruel sadistic Walter and innocent pure Walter. Put them together and you'd get the man he probably was before he bound himself to Otherworld.

Little Walter went forward and embraced Eileen around the waist, resting his cheek against the side of her hip. She was so shocked that her body didn't react to the affectionate gesture. He lingered for a moment longer and moved past her and into a nearby room. Her back was turned so she didn't know where he went, nor did she look after him.

Eileen took a moment to swallow the rock that had lodged itself in her throat. Then she turned and headed down the long red lit hall. Shadows moved over the walls without visible beings making them. They walked or floated against her surroundings, making noises of despair and emptiness. Eileen jogged, and then ran at full force. Her hand clasped around the door handle the moment she got to the last room and tore it open.

Eileen raced inside and stopped a few feet in. The door clicked shut behind her. The room was empty. Walter was nowhere in sight, and Henry's sleeping body was missing from the slab. The entire room was just one big desolate square with the bed in the center of the room and a cabinet of tools that were now scattered against the cold white ground.

"Henry?" _Where is he? What the hell happen?_

Had she imagined it all? The idea that that was the case dawned on her. She cursed miserably under her breath and staggered forward. Placing her hands on the cushioned slab, Eileen rested her weight against it.

_This is all a dream, it has to be. I'm sleeping in my bed having vivid nightmares again. Or maybe this whole past year has been one big dream and I'm still living in my place in Ashfield._

Eileen blinked; each time her eyes opened she saw the patient room. Not her home, old or new. Uttering a low whimper she forced herself to turn around so that she could find Little Walter again. But the sight of the real Walter stopped her from moving, let alone breathing. He stood in front of the door, blocking any method of escape Eileen had. Their eyes interlocked, and she knew it was over.

Eileen Galvin knew she was going to die.


	4. Humane

**Author's Note:** For some reason I am not pleased with this chapter, to me it seems a bit rushed. And as I read it over and over in hopes of fixing my dilemma, I find myself unsure what it is bothering me that I want to change. Oh well, we all have our screwy chapters. I've noticed that my other Silent Hill story '_Silent Fairytale_' is the only one coming up in the recent post lists and not this one. I enjoy my Laura story, but this one is more important to me, hopefully it was a onetime error. I've got a million other ideas for stories, mostly SH4 related, but seeing I just finished SH3 (It took me forever to get a hold of a copy) I am pleased to be brainstorming a new story. I do hope you enjoy this chapter; sorry it is a bit late.

It was over, she was dead. He'd found her before she could even pose a threat. And to top it all off, she had fallen right into his trap. Eileen wondered if Henry had ever really been there or if Walter had made her think he was. Either way Henry wasn't there on the slab now. Eileen was alone, with Walter Sullivan.

The brunette took a step backwards and braced herself against the elevated bed. If she hadn't she would of fallen to the ground before him. Their eyes met on a terrifying level, refusing to unlock. If she looked away he would win, or at least it felt like that. Eileen wouldn't show him weakness, that wasn't chance she was willing to take.

No words could come to Eileen's lips, however a whole array of things went through her mind, things she wanted to say to him. Or do, more then talking she wanted to beat him like he had her. The man before her, fully grown and malicious, had taken everything from her. Even Henry, the last friend she had on the earth.

Walter made no sudden moves. He stood a few feet from the door calmly as though this reunion wasn't affecting him what so ever. His posture didn't show defensiveness, meaning either he wasn't going to fight her, or she wasn't a threat to him.

Eileen checked Walter over with a quick sweep of her eyes.

_No gun, no chainsaw. Just his hands…_

She more then anyone knew that they were as good as weapons. Eileen forced herself to stand up straighter and face him. Her body no longer slouched back against the slab; however she continued to keep the heels of her hands on it. Her green eyes burned with hatred. If she could kill him with just that spark of hate, Walter Sullivan would be nothing but a pile of ash where he stood.

The times she had met him in Otherworld Walter had moved and acted unusual. He slunk around and watched them with demented eyes, hardly speaking at all. But it seemed he'd undergone a change over the past year. After taking a moment to look her over, which felt like a millennium to Eileen, Walter spoke.

"I expected more. You can not even speak." He said with a smile.

Eileen grit her teeth. "What do you mean?" Speaking took a lot out of her. She found herself drained somehow.

Walter raised an arm and gestured to her. "After all this time…I thought you'd try to kill me."

A wave of surprise crossed Eileen's face. "I want to. I'm going to."

They were silent for a few more seconds. She noticed his smile widen after she threaten to kill him.

"Again?" he chuckled.

Hair prickled on her forearms. "Until the job gets done."

Walter unpredictably took a step towards her. Once it sunk in her head he was coming at her, Eileen cried out and ran around the slab to the other side. With her on one side and him on the other, their conversation continued. This time Eileen started.

"Stay the fuck away from me! Where is Henry? Tell me what you've done to him!"

Eileen's palms were flat against the slab, her body positioned to run if needed. Walter's pose matched her own, except he looked more excited then trapped.

"Henry Townsend" Walter said as if remembering an old friend from school. "He is here. Safe…I promise."

"Liar!" Eileen accused. "He was here, where is he now?"

Walter never averted his eyes; he never stopped smiling as though he had her where he wanted her. The force of his stare covered her like a veil, making Eileen squirm in her skin. He looked into her eyes too intensely for comfort.

_They say the eyes are the mirror to your soul. _

She wondered what he saw.

"Gone."

"Gone where?"

"Somewhere within this world. He is safe." Walter whispered loudly, as if taunting her.

Eileen bit her lower lip. "Which door? The one to the Wish House? Or the Prison?"

He shook his head. "Not the old worlds. They are dead, you should know that Eileen."

She should of. She did, but all her chances were within those doors, there was nowhere else she could go. All hope left her. To get to Henry she had to look somewhere new. Somewhere that the long spiral path of doorways didn't lead to. Desperation filtered to anger once more.

"Why Walter?" she asked. "Huh? Don't you understand that killing people isn't going to bring your mom back? She left you! Room 302 is just a room. The room your mom left you in to die! You don't have any reason to come for us anymore because we left that place! Kill the ones who are in that apartment now! But leave us out of it!"

Walter's eyes narrowed in an accusing way. He chuckled softly. "How condemning of you Eileen Galvin, to wish harm on someone to ensure your own safety. I thought you softer."

It was harsh, and she knew it. But she was tired, so tired and only wanted to live a normal life. No more nightmares that left her jumping at every sound, or worries that plagued her when she couldn't sleep. Eileen wanted to go back to being the little girl who held her mother's hand and thought the world was a happy place. Reality was painful. She now understood why Walter stayed here.

"I know now that Room 302 is not my mother, and she cannot ever return to me. Each time I died…you could say I learned something new. When I shoved the spoon into my throat-" Walter pointed to the spot on his neck where he jabbed the eating utensil into. "-I learned that I had to be a part of my own sacraments, and form this world to my needs. Only the last ten were meant to be brought to my world. But when Henry killed me…I learned something very different." For the first time the smile faded from his face. Eileen kept her guard up, and her ears open to his story.

"I saw that my mother was no more divine then any other human." He made an exhale that sounded like a tense laugh. "Along the way I confused the teachings of the Holy Mother with my own. Dahlia…they didn't want to resurrect my mother, they wanted to bring God upon earth. Well…I have no intentions of bringing a false God here. I've delved into those books, see the creatures they worship. Blasphemy."

Eileen gulped. Everything he was saying was warped beyond belief, and yet she wondered how close not just her and Henry but the entire world came to demise. If one man could conjure up a hell that nearly swallowed Ashfield, could these cults be hoping to engulf the world? And if so, had they gotten close?

The very thought of the brave souls who may have stopped these cults brought empathy into her. They knew worse days then her, that was a fact.

"But-" Walter continued. "I came to realize that I was going down the right path. A truly virtuous path, for myself. You see Eileen, in attempts to awaken my mother I forged a world that is separated from the real one by a paper thin line. I have a new agenda, and it is to build a new world in my image. I'm going to break the barrier between Otherworld and reality, to make it one."

Eileen sucked in a large amount of air, gasping loudly. Every hair on her body stood straight up in fear. She had not been ready for this. Walter was immortal here, it was his world. If he bonded his world with reality, then everyone would live in hell. But how could she stop him? He was unable to die.

"You can't." she uttered softly. "You just…can't."

He grinned once more. "And why can't I?"

Eileen's lips quivered. "B-because…I won't let you."

"Oh? So now you deem yourself the hero Eileen Galvin? When moments before you asked me to sacrifice someone else in your place?"

"So you have brought me and Henry here to kill us."

Walter shook his head. "No Eileen."

He moved around the slab towards her. She went to run but a restraining strap from the bed flew out and tightly curled itself around her wrist. Eileen whimpered and tried to wrench her wrist out from the possessed restraint with no avail. In mere seconds Walter was there and Eileen took a step back and swung her free hand at his face. It hit with a satisfying thud. It seemed that if Walter didn't see it coming, it affected him like it would anyone else. He shook off the hit in less than a moment and caught her flailing arm, stepping so close that they were inches apart. Eileen stopped struggling; there was no point if she was stuck.

Walter's face was tipped downward so he could peer into her eyes, he wanted her to understand him. Eileen couldn't help but listen.

"You were the ones who got away, my little survivors. Though I can not reveal to you now you and Henry's purpose to me, I can assure you this. You are special."

Walter cast his eyes over the strap twirled around Eileen's wrist like a snake's vice. It released instantly allowing her sore red hand to fall at her side. She made no attempt to run.

She knew she had to stop Walter, but by doing so may get herself killed.

_If you die in this world, I think you die in the real world too._

Henry's words rang in her head like a broken record. Eileen decided to go with him, where ever in the abyss of Otherworld it may be. She could only hope to stop him while he trusted her. Then maybe she could find Henry too.

Eileen's lips parted as if to say something but not a single breath came out. Walter let her go and tilted his head curiously.

"You have decided." He stated.

Eileen nodded. "Henry and I, you promise we're safe?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Why?"

Walter was taken off guard by her question. "Why are you safe?"

Her green eyes looked at his face but away from his blue eyes. "Henry killed you, we stopped you."

He brought a hand up to her cheek causing Eileen to flinch back. Walter's hand touched the line of her jaw, his thumb running over her pale cheek. "You showed me the truth. I thank you for that."

Eileen shuttered. When Walter slid his hand back to his side she felt a wave of relief. His touch only brought back horrible memories.

The door opened across the room, and Little Walter peeked his head inside. The child made a sniffling sound and entered the room, cautious of his older counterpart. Eileen realized that the boy was watching Walter with the fear that he'd hurt her again. He still wanted to protect her.

_When I end Walter, he's going to go too. Why do I feel this way for the kid? He's not real…_

Little Walter moved to Eileen's side and took her hand. The shaggy haired man glanced down at him and bared his teeth in a fearsome smile. It was crazy, he could frighten even himself.

Eileen squeezed the child's hand. "I want to see Henry…now."

Walter nodded. "Of course. Let us go see him. He's in Silent Hill, which is where we need to be. It's where this all started."

Without another word he turned his back to them and headed for the door. Eileen went to follow but the boy pulled her back. His strength surprised her; he was so tiny but had the ability to haul her backwards with such force.

"Eileen I'm scared."

Walter from across the room opened the door, giving the two a final glance as he slid out.

"Me too sweetie, me too."


	5. Omen

**Author's Note:** Wow this one is longer them my others! My computer is acting weird so the next chapter might be another week or so. But I finally figured out how this is going to end! That's right, I have only planned this story a chapter or two ahead of what I'm posting. I'm pretty happy with this chapter, the bond between Eileen and Little Walter grows, even though she's not sure what to think of him. And the hatred between Normal Walter is getting worse. This chapter he says something that really ticks poor Eileen off.

Still planning new stories, it's how I survive not constantly writing, lol. Please review, and enjoy. This is hours of writing/reading/editing.

"You hate him, don't you Eileen?"

"More then I've hated anyone."

"Is that why you don't like saying my name? Because we have the same one?"

She didn't reply, completely fine with leaving the small boy at her side forever guessing the answer to that question. Eileen walked hand in hand with Little Walter as his older self lead the way. They had been walking what seemed like only a few minutes, despite how tormenting each second was. From inside the hospital, Walter took them through the elevator that hadn't worked previously, having commanded it forth effortlessly. Together they moved down to the ground floor and out into a new place. It wasn't Ashfield, and if it hadn't been for every door leading where they shouldn't, Eileen would of wondered.

Right now, she wondered why Walter was taking them through Silent Hill. A destroyed Silent Hill at that. It looked like Toluca Lake had risen above the town and flooded the streets. Every building looked torn down and damaged beyond repair.

_But I can't forget where I am, Otherworld. This isn't the Silent Hill I remember as a kid._

Watching the back of Walter as he confidently led her to an unknown destination, Eileen thought of a hundred ways to sneak up and kill him. It was foolish to even dream of such opportunity, however she didn't deny herself a moment of the brimming ideas.

Eileen didn't think now was a good time to strike anyways, though she did plan to stop Walter once and for all. Her agenda was simple, and risky as well. First off she would allow Walter to believe she was willing to stand down and be a part of whatever it was he needed her for. Then Eileen had to find Henry, the whole reason she had crawled through the hole in the first place. By this point She and Henry could team up together to stop Walter. This may very well be their last chance.

Once again the warmth and life from the boy beside her, holding onto her so fiercely, brought her back to reality.

_If there is a way, any way to save you, I'll find it. I swear._

Sometimes the brunette forgot the child was another physical figment of Walter Sullivan, serial killer and psychopath. And even if she did help the boy escape, what would that mean later? Could history repeat itself, or the fabric of time collapse at the paradox of two of the same person existing twice? Either way he would grow up to look just like the lunatic fifteen feet ahead of them. No denying that.

"Hey." Eileen beckoned downward to Little Walter. Her voice was soft and soothing, catching the tiny child's ears. He looked up with washed out blue eyes that twinkled with hope. She tried to smile at him. "I was just thinking that maybe I could call you something else, besides Walter. If you…don't mind it."

His footsteps became slower and more precise as he thought about her proposition. "Like what?"

Eileen shrugged. "Walt maybe? It's a shorter, and it doesn't feel so bad to say."

"Okay, I like that!"

The fleeting happiness she shared with the boy came to a screeching halt the moment Walter Sullivan spoke. His voice wasn't collected like usual. It came out hoarse. "We're almost there."

Eileen shivered. "Almost where exactly?"

Never once did he turn back to glance at them. She was glad he didn't, however.

"Eleven years ago I began my sacraments to awaken my mother. My first victim was a man I knew, his name was Jimmy Stone. He was a priest in the church I was taken to, one of the men who along with another one of my victims, warped me. The Valtiel Sect. Looking back on those days, I laugh. Days I spare myself from now." Walter took a sideway look back at the boy, then back ahead. "I shot him in the back head and removed his heart from his chest."

Little Walter made a soft cowering sound as he moved closer to Eileen. She squeezed his hand to comfort him. He either feared the man before him, or the man he was destined to become.

"Don't talk like that around him, he's just a kid!" she shouted, instantly feeling silly for telling Walter not to scare a manifestation.

Walter chuckled as he walked on. "He is me."

"No, he isn't." Eileen said through clenched teeth. "This boy is afraid of everything you stand for. If he were anything like you, I'd of died in my apartment a year ago."

A heavy silence draped over them. Eileen felt it, Little Walter felt it. Maybe even past the insanity, the man before her felt it too. Eileen was a mixture of trembling fear and weightless relief at that moment. She had finally mentioned that fateful night to the man who did it to her. Walter didn't speak again for a long time. Enough time that the house on an elevated hill came into view. It was nearly a mansion, placed on the nearby outskirts of the town. A chill passed through Eileen.

"Stone Mansion. I was taken here when I was a little older than him." Walter said as he slowly stopped, gazing at the sizeable home. "This is where I must open the gateway between the worlds."

Eileen stood with the boy hugging her leg, both staring up at the mansion with anticipation. For what, neither was sure.

"What is in there?" Eileen asked in a hushed tone.

Walter's blue eyes zoned in on her. A chilling half grin emerged on his face. "Salvation. And you're beloved Henry Townsend. However you will not see him as of yet. Come along, we're almost there…"

The brunette's heart skipped several beats at the mention of Henry's name. He was close, he could help her survive. Henry was her only hope.

Having to usher Little Walter along, Eileen followed cautiously as they came upon the home. It lay on a high flat hill of grass and overgrown weeds. The mansion itself looked in good shape, nothing too stupendous though.

It was cold, without her jacket Eileen felt the chill of the air as it laced over her skin. Neither companion seemed to feel the cold however.

_Neither of them is alive…_

Walter leaned forward as they came up to the large cherry wood double doors and opened one side. He stood there holding the door open, demanding them to go inside with the intensity of his stare.

_No, not us, just me._

Walter stared directly at Eileen with an emotion she didn't know how to describe. It was a look he had never directed at her before, and it wasn't mock kindness either. There were thoughts behind the look, mechanical wheels turning to process whatever it was he needed to figure out. But Eileen was damn sure he was anticipating her having to pass him by.

Until now she had been behind him, defensive, where as Walter had his back turned making him vulnerable. Now she had to be the one without total knowledge where he was for a split second. It had only taken him a split second to push open her door and nearly murder her. But he had promised her she was safe, and as far she knew he had never lied to them. Deceived, but never lied.

_Deceived? Why did I think of that? He was never trustworthy to begin with…_

Little Walter looked up at Eileen, and as though she had sensed it she looked back down at him. Understanding his hesitation.

"It's okay Walt, I'm here." She soothed.

The sandy haired child nodded. "I know Eileen."

As she walked inside she didn't look at Walter. The saying 'You don't see them, they don't see you' came to mind. And though it didn't stop her from fearing him, it did freeze any insecurity she had about being inches away from him.

The inside of the Stone Mansion was large and surprisingly normal compared to the rest of the town. It appeared as though no one had kept it up in a while but otherwise it was fine. Before moving forward Eileen took a single glance back at Walter to know where he was. The shaggy haired man shut the door, and before he could catch her checking on him, she turned around and moved into the house. From the outside it was two stories and fairly wide, taking up the entire hill. The carpet was red and the walls mirrored that of a similar hue. Every table top held a priceless artifact covered in a layer of thick dust. Before entering the end of the entrance hall, Eileen stopped before a small table where a vase sat. She ran a finger over the brown wood and her finger came back with a grey cluster of dust on it. Eileen made a face and wiped her hand over her shorts. Little Walter had disconnected from her but didn't stray far. He tip toed to the round arching doorway, peeking into the living room. For a second he looked like any little boy should, adventurous and free of fear. Little Walter then scampered over to the side table Eileen had streaked and bent forward, blowing at the dust. It curled and rose as it lifted from the surface and into the air. He giggled. It was the first time she had ever heard him laugh.

Eileen shivered. Her opinion on Little Walter's existence changed every few minutes. Turning her attention away from the boy Eileen caught sight of a large painting half showing from the living room wall. Curiosity got the best of her. She moved into the furnished room with her sights set on the human sized painting. It was of a woman, blonde, fair and beautiful. She wore brown medieval garb along with a necklace, and her hands were poised in a prayer. Inside the picture's background was a chain and a dirty room that didn't compare well with the woman's beauty.

Eileen had been so entranced that she hadn't seen or heard Walter come up from behind her. He stood directly beside her, looking on at the painting with meek interest. Eileen had to stop herself from flinching away.

"Jennifer Carroll, the founding member of the Order. Beautiful isn't she? This wasn't only Jimmy Stone's house, before they built over it, this is where she lived. It was a small shack, but her home none the less."

The two exchanged stares. Walter didn't blink. "Do you know what they did to her?"

Eileen looked away for a final look at the woman named Jennifer before returning her gaze to Walter. "No…I don't."

"They burned her alive. A witch they called her. I met a girl once in this town that was called a witch. Just once, when I was a boy. They don't matter anymore, but they helped us be where we are today."

Eileen winced. "I don't like where I am today."

Walter's features softened. He raised a hand to touch her chin and like in the hospital she flinched away. This time he didn't try to touch her a second time. "You still do not trust me Eileen Galvin."

Her fists balled at her side. Eileen put a good two feet between them. "What have you done to make me trust you? You act as though I should care about your causes, well I don't. I can't stop you, but I wish I could."

"I let you live this time. I hold no malice for you, for what you and Henry did. I forgave you."

That had struck a chord within Eileen. Her jaw dropped and her lips quivered with complete outrage.

"F-forgive me? You forgive me? Your…there is no word for you. No description, no…no explanation for you! Over a year, a fucking year I spent trying to get over what you did to me, and I needed your forgiveness? I've lost a lot of my faith in the Almighty, but God as my witness, I will never let you hurt me again. Ever. I came here looking for Henry and I'm going to find him, because I'm not afraid of you. You brought us here for a reason, but I want no part in it. Whatever you needed me for can't be that important."

Eileen was breathing in and out loudly, sucking air into her greedy lungs to suffice the amount of energy she was expelling. It was hard enough being so close to him, and talking to him. But now that she had released so much repressed agony, she felt lifeless.

Walter's smile had vanished. He stared at her with a blank slate. "I seem to have misspoken. Let me take it back." He said, not sounding like he meant it. Walter sounded rather not amused.

For the first time, Eileen chuckled. "No…no let me keep it. You've taken enough from me Walter Sullivan. At least allow me to keep my hatred for you as pure as it is."

Little Walter stood in the open archway watching the entire scene play out. After Eileen spoke for the final time the boy took his cue to stumble in and stand between them. The anger generating from Walter was unmistakable. Yet she knew he wouldn't act on it, not just because he needed her. Instead he moved around her to the nearby window. The blonde man tore back the curtains and turn to her. His hand gestured to the outside.

"Come look with your very own eyes Eileen. Look at what awaits those who will challenge me." He demanded.

Little Walter grabbed Eileen by her belt loops, clinging to her. When she made no sign to coming over to him, Walter strolled back to her and caught her forearm. Hauling her towards the window, Eileen shrieked.

"After I'm done with you and Henry, I won't need him anymore. This is what happens to him, Eileen! You hold Henry's life in your actions, so choose them wisely!"

Eileen looked outside unwillingly at first, but once the picture pieced itself together in her head, she could do nothing but stare. The creatures roaming around the lawn that circled the house were nothing short of terrifying. They stood like men, with unusual blades either in their hands or strapped to them. They walked around in a coordinated fashion, scoping the outside for intruders.

_Or anyone stupid enough to try escaping…_

"What are they?" Eileen murmured. Walter still held fast to her arm, able to feel the vibrations of fear wrack her body.

"Missionaries, one of the many things making sure you don't leave this place." Walter moved his mouth close to her ear. Eileen held her breath, feeling the heat of Walter's breath on her skin. "Unlike the other creatures this world has to offer, the Missionary listens to any order given by me. Henry's life is in your hands."

Eileen turned her face back enough to look at him. Her eyes were red rimmed with tears that threaten to fall. "I-I'm not afraid." She hissed.

"_You're_ _lying_" Walter said in a sing-song tone.

Walter released her and went towards his younger self. Little Walter yipped and took a step back. The man knelt before him and smiled in a friendly manner. "I need you to come with me."

Eileen choked back a sob. She turned to glare at Walter. "Where are you taking him?"

Fear sizzled under the boiling anger within her. He could hurt her, but he wasn't going to hurt Little Walter. Or take him out of her sight. The protective animosity in her voice was that of a mother's.

_A…mother?_

"He and I have a little trip to go on, isn't that right?" Walter rose up. "Never fear my dear Eileen, he will be returned to you."

The boy gulped and looked up at her. She was his deciding factor. And as much as she was growing to love the boy, she'd had enough of Walter's presence. What could he do to him anyways?

"Go ahead Walt, its okay."

_God, that boy trusts me. If I mislead him it'd kill me…_

"Eileen, why not pass the time and get acquainted with the house? As long as you don't wander too far, the Missionaries won't mind you. I think a little solitude will do you wonders." Walter chuckled.

Taking the hand of his older self, Little Walter left her sight. She didn't breath until she heard a door deep in the house shut.

Alone for the first time since she arrived in Otherworld, Eileen staggered to the nearest chair and wept. She came to realize that there was no finding Henry, this time he wasn't going to help her. She had to help him. His life was in Eileen's hands. And on top of all that, she had to stop Walter from bringing the apocalypse to the real world.

The calculated procedure she came up with before seemed ridiculous. Finding Henry, stopping Walter, it was all a lost cause.

Eileen Galvin cried until she felt ready to face the world again. In an instant the desire to fall apart dissipated. Time had already been wasted sobbing, when she could be out finding her way around. Eileen got up and thoughtlessly wiped the tears away. She headed to the front door and cautiously slipped out; hoping Walter had been true when he told her the beasts wouldn't harm her. Not that she'd attempt to alert them.

Eileen kept as close to the house as she could, out of the way of the Missionaries path. It took around five or so minutes to get all the way around the house, where the back yard resided.

"What the hell?"

A large barn sized shack stood around fifty feet behind the house caught her eye. It was at that moment Eileen knew that maybe she could do this. Just like when she felt the door at the hospital and heard Henry's breathing. Or the sleepless nights she would pass by his door and just know he was there on the other side. Eileen knew Henry was inside the shack. Her heart raced at the thought, pumping adrenaline into her veins.

Eileen turned back and scurried into the Stone Mansion, hording her find like a treasure. She never thought much of herself in comparison as a hero. But right now she felt invincible. In her heart Eileen Galvin felt such fear and devotion, enough to drive her. She slipped into the same sofa chair she had cried in right in time to hear the voice of Walter beckoning Little Walter back into the house.

Time was of the essence.


	6. Clandestine

**Author's Note:** This took me forever to write. Somehow most of the parts just came to me some days, and others I was stuck. But here it is. I have the rest of the story all figured out so I'm pretty excited. I'm going to turn this story and another one I'm doing in the near future into like a split part one to another bigger story, which I'm also figuring out.

Poor Eileen's having some ups and downs, but really soon she's going to get herself in gear. However next chapter is going to be a little harmful. But you'll understand why at the end of this chapter. So enjoy. Review please!

(PS: I'm deleting my Laura story for now, it prevents this one from being on the latest post list. I promise I will put it back up eventually. Sorry guys.)

Eileen had slept through the night somehow, in a bed of a man who was long dead. It was amazing how tired she was, and how it was so easy to shut her eyes and fade away into a deep slumber. Not once in the past year had she had a single good night's sleep, because she always dreamt of hell. Now that she was in hell, there was nothing worse that could possibly happen.

Eileen thought that was true, until the next morning. The sky was darker and the air was thick with violence. Walter, God of Otherworld, was in a bad mood. Even as she began to shake off the blurry effects of a good sleep she could feel the weight of his presence. Something was wrong, what that was, she didn't know.

_Maybe he knows…_

Eileen had been positive the day before that she had found Henry's whereabouts in a barn sized shack in the mansion yard. It was a sixth sense that told her he was in there, a positive connect between the two that linked them. Eileen had not thought of a plan as to how she would get to Henry, but with time came wisdom. At this point little bit of wisdom would go a long way.

The night before Eileen had slipped into the bedroom that once belong to Jimmy Stone, finding a white nightgown on the bed. At the time she had laughed and tossed it on the floor. Now she slightly wished she had worn it, her jean shorts were constricting as she tried to stretch out. Eileen groaned as she yawned and extended her body across the bed in a feline stretch, screaming as something in the bed moved with her.

She sat up quick and threw off the blanket to see Little Walter curled up beside her. The king sized bed put some distance between them, but the boy was not too far from where she was. At the urgency of her fright, he sat up and made a soft squeak.

"Walt?" Eileen said through heaving breaths. In the back of her head she had thought he was some sort of creature nesting beside her. She was just relieved that she hadn't been sharing the bed with a squirming beast.

"I'm sorry Eileen! I was scared and…"

Eileen reached over and put her hand on his little shoulder. "You scared the hel- I mean heck out of me. Are you okay? Did Walter hurt you?"

The child shook his head. "No, I just wanted to be here with you. Yesterday you were acting funny."

"Was I? I'm sorry sweety, I didn't mean to upset you."

He nodded and stuck his thumb between his teeth and began sucking on it. Eileen lay back down in the bed and opened her arms to him. Instinctively the boy sniffled and laid his head on her shoulder as she held him to her.

_The last part of Walter's innocence…he's still alive._

That made Eileen wonder.

For a while Eileen and Little Walter lay together in silence, blissful silence that could not be touched by Walter himself. They were both clinging to each other out of fear and emptiness. Eileen was grasping the child because he was the only one who had stayed beside her with the hope of her wellbeing. And Little Walter held her because he wanted a mother.

Eileen turned on her side and the child lowered his head and nestled his little face into her arm. With her other arm she draped it over the boy. Eileen loved him, she knew it then. Before the events of her first trip to Otherworld she had been a kind hearted woman, giving as much as receiving. Even Richard Braintree liked her, and he was mostly feared among the tenants in Ashfield Heights. But never had she formed to love a child so much. Each moment she accepted the fact that without this boy her heart would break.

_I love him like a mother would; I tried so hard to break away from this. But…I just can't._

"You don't sleep, do you?" she asked softly.

Little Walter shook his head. "No."

"How long were you laying here with me?"

"I don't know…since you fell asleep. I thought you'd be mad if I were here…"

Eileen tensed. She hugged him closer. "No, never! Never think that. I'm glad you're here sweety."

He didn't reply. Another minute or so of silence filled the air, until Eileen spoke again.

"Can you feel it too? That heaviness in the air?" she asked.

"It hurts me, he and me are the same."

"Where did he take you Walt? Yesterday when you two left."

"A scary place. Its dark and cold. I saw your friend."

Eileen gasped. "Henry? Was it in that shack? The big grey once in the yard?"

Little Walter sat up and Eileen propped herself up on an elbow. "You saw it too?" he asked.

"Yes, I went outside when you two left. I saw that place and just knew he was in there, Henry that is. Does Walter know that I saw it? Is that why he is mad?"

The child shook his head. "No, he is mad at me."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Why's that?"

Little Walter hung his head, peering out through his sandy blond hair shyly. "I don't want to say."

"Why not?"

"You'll be mad."

"Mad? I doubt that."

_A mother's love is unconditional_; her mother's words rung inside her mind.

"Okay…he told me why he needs you, and told me I have to keep you here. But I yelled and said I won't. I have special powers too, I didn't know that until yesterday. I got so mad, that I made one of the special things in his room break. I didn't mean to, I didn't even touch it."

The brunette listened with the utmost interest, leaning in so that she didn't miss a single word.

"What does he need me for? You've got to tell me Walt!"

"He said…you were special, that he needs you to open a gate or something…I didn't really listen, I was mad."

"And Henry?"

Little Walter shrugged. "I don't know, your friend was sleeping. I poked him when the scary man wasn't looking. He didn't move."

A chill raced over Eileen's spine. "He d-didn't move? Oh God…"

She put a hand to her chest, imagining Henry laying there in the shack cold and lifeless. Little Walter must of understood her worry because he took her hand and held it tightly. "He is okay, I promise. Remember when the bad man made you go away from me?"

She did. One minute she was with the boy, slightly chagrin but still aware, the next she came back to reality staring straight into the churning wheels of that twisted machine.

Eileen nodded. "I do."

"I think he made him like that, controlled."

Whatever the plan was, Eileen knew Walter thought Henry was the only one who could stop him. Maybe he was, but that didn't rule her out. It was almost offensive that Walter didn't think she could stop him. Eileen began to wonder a few things at that moment, for starters, why Little Walter only addressed her. He never called Henry, whose name he knew perfectly well, by anything but 'your friend'. And then there was Walter, who he gave the name 'the scary man' or just 'him'. Eileen knew a thing or two about children, starting with how they dealt with things. She knew he cared for her, maybe even loved her, and therefore disassociated with anything that kept her and him apart. Walter was an obvious blockade between them, but Henry was a whole different kind. Little Walter must of known how precious Henry was to Eileen, and therefore wanted to be even more sacred. She couldn't blame him for wanting that, it touched her.

Eileen shut the frivolous thoughts from her mind, and got back on track.

"So where is Walter right now? I guess you have some kind of link to him."

The boy nodded. "Well sort of. I can't tell where he is; only that he might be around…but he's not…here."

The brunette tilted her head. "Not…here? Like in the house?"

He shook his head. "This place. After I broke the thingy, he said he'd have to go find a new one. He said something about the Wish House."

Chills raced up Eileen's spine. Walter was gone, far enough away that she could move around without his eyes on her.

"I think I have an idea Walt, we need to go see Henry. You said there were special things of Walter's there, right? Well maybe those special things are what he needs to open this gateway. You and I are the only ones who can stop him, so we might as well do it now that we have the chance."

Eileen felt proud of her plan, which had just formulated in her head. It was dangerous, but Walter was temporarily out of the picture. She had to take this opportunity.

Little Walter seemed to agree. His big blue eyes widen and he smiled. "Yeah! Come on, before he comes back."

And so they went, without a single thought to anything beyond stopping the two worlds from colliding. The two burst from the house, seeing hundreds of Missionaries stalking about mindlessly. Eileen hesitated at the sight of them, but the child beside her tugged her arm.

"They won't hurt you as long as your with me, I'll protect you Eileen." He vowed.

However heroic the boy was, Eileen knew it was only because as a part of Walter, they saw him as their master. Walter had never said anything about his younger self roaming the outside, just her. Hand in hand they slid around the bladed fiends, reminding Eileen of the previous day in the hospital.

_Was that only a day ago? It feels like months._

Together they rounded the house without a problem; the large gray shack was in sight now. Eileen's blood raced. The excitement was too much to bear, because it meant not only finding her friend, but finding a way out of Otherworld too.

They ran there, still grasping onto each other. The shack grew closer and closer. As soon as they were in front of it, Eileen released Little Walter and tugged on one of the rusty handles. It did not budge. All that hope and relief died as she jostled the door, nearly off its hinges.

"Why won't it open?" she cried.

Little Walter grabbed her hands, holding them gently enough to ease the panic swelling within her. "I have to do it. It's got to do with me being a part of him. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

Eileen took a step back and allowed the boy to take hold of the door, which he pulled open without the slightest bit of trouble. A wave of relief swept over her. She caught hold of one of the doors, ushering the child in.

"Come on, let's hurry up."

Inside the shack it was dirty and cold. It looked like her father's old work shed, but much larger. Where tools should have been there were artifacts and items too strange to describe. They looked like something out of Eileen's nightmares, some obviously frightening, and others just struck her the wrong way. And then she saw him, smack in the back of the shed lying down on a makeshift bed.

"Henry!"

Eileen ran towards him and nearly fell onto him with a massive embrace. He was lying down fully unconscious, unable to return her affections. But it didn't matter to Eileen. Henry was really there this time, finally she had found him. One day or not, time in Otherworld stretched in the worst ways. She had spent days in there the first time, and less than an hour had passed in the real world. Maybe she _had_ been here longer.

Tears burned Eileen's eyes and it felt good. It felt real. She didn't know how long she cried on his chest, clinging to Henry like he was salvation, but it was long enough for Little Walter to find a place against the wall to sit.

"Sorry sweetheart." She sniffled. "I just…really missed him."

The boy shyly nodded, chewing on his thumb. "Look"

Eileen followed his gaze over to an unusual stand over Henry's bed. It was a long metallic pole thinner than her wrist, that sprouted out in two different directions.

_A demonic hand with two fingers sums it up._

Eileen looked back at Little Walter. "What…is it?"

He shrugged. "It's important I think, he kept looking at it. He read from that book there a lot too."

Little Walter pointed at a red book sitting on a nearby table. It hurt to move away from Henry after just finding him, but she did it. Eileen headed over to the table across the shack, seeing the crimson book entitled _'Combinación de Mundos'_.

"Combinación de Mundos…" Eileen murmured, running her fingertips over the front cover.

Little Walter looked up curiously. "What does that mean?"

"Spanish for 'Combination of Worlds'. I did a lot of archeology study in college; one of the first languages I learned was Spanish."

She picked it up and opened to the first page, then began flipping around randomly. She walked back towards Henry and stood at his side. Eileen skipped over the words because she was far more interested in the pictures. One in particular caught her green eyes; it was of a resting man having a smoky fume rising from his mouth. She flipped the page to see the back of a woman in a white dress with arms wide open, a similar smoke surrounding her. The pictures were depicted in a splotchy black ink as was the words, and the pages were crinkled and old. This ceremony was in fact ancient, possibly another ritual from Walter's church.

Eileen's eyes left the book and went back to Henry's sleeping face. He lay on a rickety table with a white sheet over it. She found herself amused at that, Henry was such a picky sleeper. He couldn't even fall asleep on the couch…

Under the minimal light streaming from outside, Henry did look dead. However the rise and fall of his chest proved he was alive. Henry Townsend lay asleep in his striped pajamas, unaware of anything that has happened.

_For all he knows, he is still in bed back home._

Little Walter came to Eileen's side, looking at Henry as well. From the look on his face she could tell he was getting familiar with Henry. His chubby little hands touched the white sheet under him. Eileen smiled and put her arm around Little Walter.

The doors at the front of the room slammed open. Eileen and Little Walter cried out as Walter Sullivan stepped into the room. Eileen clutched the red book against her chest with one hand and used the other to slide the child behind her.

Walter Sullivan looked darker than usual, sick and mangy. His blonde hair was stringy and his overall appearance looked dirty. He had looked like that only one other time, but he was far more innocent when she had seen him then.

"What…are you doing Eileen?" he asked, insanity coating the edges of his words.

She put on a strong façade. "Taking up a little reading. Found your book." She said, dangling the crimson hard back in front of him.

Walter's blue eyes darted from Eileen to the book. "I take it you can read Spanish."

Eileen smirked with satisfaction. "Combinación de Mundos, the Combination of Worlds."

His eyes narrowed. "Smart girl."

A standoff ensued. They stood face to face a good fifteen feet apart, neither daring to make a move. She knew she had Walter in a hard spot. Eileen not only had his book, but she had also disobeyed him. He would know now that no matter how much he thought he could handle her, she would always try to stop him. Walter Sullivan would never stand in her way again.

Little Walter clung to Eileen's leg, looking confident in the woman beside him.

"Except one thing." Walter continued.

Eileen winced. As easy as that the tables turned. Now she was the one wondering what he meant, what did he know that she didn't? All done with three simple words.

So she gave in. "Except what?"

The man before Eileen chuckled. "You misunderstand how this works Eileen Galvin."

She hated the way he said her name, it gave the brunette chills. Walter raised his hands in the air, grinning with his own smug satisfaction. "This gateway only opens when I say it can."

"So?" Eileen hissed. "Doesn't mean I can't jump through, now does it?"

His hands went back down to his side. Walter leaned forward with the grin still on his face. "Thou who open the gateway must go through. You just don't get it."

Anger boiled in her chest. "But that's impossible! You died there!"

Walter nodded with menace in his eyes. "Exactly! But I can pull the world in here. That's where you come in Eileen, you're still alive."

The image of the woman in the red book came to mind. She was standing in front of…

_In front of a mirror._

Eileen slowly looked behind her at the metallic stand she had analyzed a moment before.

_Except the two split sides held the gateway…oh God…_

Then distress pounded within her heart. "How? How could I possibly tear one world into another?"

The grungy man sighed and shook his head. "It's what the mother was always supposed to do. But I can't explain that now. All you need to know is…it's impossible for you to leave. By destroying the ritual it will cost you freedom. You will be trapped here forever. You will never age, never die. Actually you can die if I wish it, but then you'll just become like the others. You remember them don't you? Floating about with only the urge to kill. Murder victims always take death the hardest, because they lost their lives unwillingly. Sad…isn't it?"

Little Walter took a step back from Eileen, who had become pale as the sheet Henry lay on. The red book fell from her fingertips and hit the ground in a single hard thud. The child watched as Eileen's limbs shivered and shook.

"N-no…" she whimpered, shaking her head in denial. Your…lying."

"Sadly not my dear Eileen. I speak only the truth."

_There is no escape…by becoming the hero I become the sacrifice. Either way I lose…_

Walter moved towards Eileen. The boy screeched and tumbled out of his older self's reach. She however didn't even flinch. Walter took a hold of Eileen's wrist and pulled her forward and out of the shack. Frightened to go but unwilling to be alone, the sandy haired child raced off after them. Eileen gave one final glance back to look at Henry. Anguish pumped through her veins with every heart beat.

_Forgive me Henry, I'm so sorry…_


End file.
